“Freezes!” George called out. Freezes are break dancing moves where you freeze your body in the middle of a move. It also felt like what Lily was doing to me: freezing me out.
“Beginners to the front and I’ll teach you the basics,” he said. “Everyone else, spread out.”
Lily went to the back of the room, almost in a corner. I ran to stand next to her.
“Handstand freeze!” George called out.
He flipped himself into a handstand and froze his feet for an insanely long time. We clapped and cheered him on.
Then it was our turn to try them. This resulted in some solid handstands with legs bent in a variety of ways. I looked over to Lily. She caught my eye and glanced away.
“Lily!” I said over the music. “Are you mad at me?”
“Well, yeah,” Lily said. As if it were obvious.
She was mad at me? I fell over in shock. Okay, she was mad. What had I done to make her mad? I needed to know.
“Why are you—?”
“Baby freeze!” George called out, demonstrating.
I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Okay, baby freeze. A baby freeze was a beginning freeze, but still a challenge. We both squatted down. I put my weight on my arms and rested the top of my head on the floor. I kicked my feet up toward the ceiling. We maneuvered our legs into crooked positions and froze.
“Why are you mad at me?” I finally asked her, my voice cracking a little from the effort it took to talk while I was twisted like a pretzel.
“Because you lied to me,” Lily said.
“What? When did I lie to you?!”
“Shoulder freeze!” George called out.
Ugh! Lily turned away from me as she went into a shoulder freeze. She was giving me the cold shoulder, literally. I needed to get this taken care of. I got up and went around to the other side of Lily.
“What are you talking about?” I asked her, positioning myself into a shoulder freeze. Ugh. The only part of your body touching the floor was your shoulder, and it was really hard to hold the pose for a long time. At least for me!
“Yesterday, when I asked you to come to Sugar Plums, you said you had to meet with Vanessa. You weren’t rehearsing.” Her voice cracked, but it wasn’t with effort. I could tell she was really upset.
“No, I was rehearsing—” I protested.
“I saw the video,” Lily said. “You were with your Squad besties!”
Oh. OH. I fell over again, but Lily was holding that pose strong.
“Ohhhh! I wasn’t lying. I—”
“I mean, it makes sense,” Lily cut me off. “They’re all talented and you’re really talented and I’m a nobody here, so you’d rather hang out with the you-know-whos over me.”
“That’s not true!” I said.
“Chair freeze!” George yelled.
Lily spun around on the ground and lifted herself into a chair freeze. Ugh, I was awful at these. I put my hands down, then my head, and kicked my feet up in the air. Once I got settled in, I talked to her again.
“I wasn’t hanging out with them—” I looked at Lily, upside down, and saw that she was starting to cry a little bit.
“Harper,” Lily cut me off. “They’re our team, so of course you should hang with them. I just didn’t want to be lied to about it. And it stinks to be left out. That was savage.”
I fell over.
“Keep trying!” George yelled back at me. Augh. I flipped upside down again into, actually, a pretty decent chair freeze and confessed.
“I was only getting a ride home from Trina’s sister,” I said. “After I had secret tutoring from Trina for those harder moves from the routine. I’d thought Vanessa was going to tutor me. Trust me, I was shocked when it was Trina. Vanessa asked her because she’s so good at teaching the minis that she thought she could help me.”
Lily’s mouth moved into a grin for a second. She shifted her hands to stay in the freeze.
“Exactly,” I said. “Totally humiliating. And, of course, I didn’t want the Bunheads to find out and embarrass me.”
“Oh,” Lily said. “But wait—you were with the Bunheads.”
“Only because Trina’s sister gave everyone a ride home,” I said. “I promise.”
“And the besties?” Lily still looked skeptical.
“I think that was for Vanessa to see,” I told her. “I wasn’t lying on purpose, and I wasn’t leaving you out.”
“Oh. OH. I was so sad.” Lily sniffled. “But that makes sense.”
I fell over with relief, and also because my arms felt like they were going to fall off.
“Did we just have our first fight upside down?” I asked Lily.
“Yes! That’s pretty weird.” Lily laughed and then sniffled. “And I’m totally crying upside down, aren’t I?”
“Yes, also weird,” I said. “Your tears are running up your forehead.”
We both started laughing as she flipped right side up. George was complimenting other people, who, I couldn’t believe it, were still doing their freezes.
“I’m sorry,” Lily said. “We should be with them; they’re our team.”
“Look, if they get mean again, then we shouldn’t take it,” I said. “But Trina actually was really nice yesterday. Megan is at least acting nice because she has to. Riley . . . well. Hopefully, they’ll just get used to the idea of us being here.”
“That would be good.” Lily sighed. “Do you think we can get them to stop hiding my backpack?”
“Oh, they did that to you, too?” I shook my head. “Yes. Yes, I’m sure we can.”
“Excellent freezes!” George called out, and he turned off the music. “Now it’s time to freestyle. Scatter!”
We looked at each other, with the same idea. I followed Lily as we wove through the dancers to go to the front of the class, standing with the Bunheads as George came to the front of the room.
“Hey, teammates!” I said to them. They didn’t have time to respond one way or the other, because George came right in front of us and gave us high fives.
“Hip-hop is different from many forms of dance, because it’s often improvisational,” George told us. “So let’s freestyle!”
The lights went off, and colorful strobe lights came flashing across the room.
“So cool!” Lily high-fived me as music came on with an intense beat. We all started freestyling. Popping, locking, body-rolling, and hinging.
“Your accents are sharp!” George came over and told Megan.
“Go, Megan!” I danced over to her and high-fived her. She looked at me, a little confused.
Lily got on the floor and started windmilling, hands on the floor, kicking her legs around in a circle.
“Whoo!” a couple people yelled to her. When she jumped up, George ran over and high-fived her.
This was fun. When the song ended, everyone cheered.
“You all did great work today,” George said. “I hope I see you all again soon!”
Lily flashed me the peace sign. That gave me an idea. I looked at the clock. We still had ten minutes until DanceStarz Squad rehearsal.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I told Lily. When I left the room, instead of going to Studio B for rehearsal, I went out to the lobby. I went over to the big couch, where my mom was with the other mothers.
“Excuse me.” I smiled at everyone. Then I leaned down and asked my mother a question. She nodded. I ran back into Studio B. The Bunheads and Lily were sitting on the floor either changing out of their sneakers from hip-hop or stretching. Vanessa wasn’t there yet. Perfect.
“Okay!” I said.
Everyone looked up at me.
“Okay!” I stalled, to get my nerve up. “I want to say something. First, can whoever keeps moving my bag please stop? Thank you.”
I didn’t look to see the Bunheads’ reactions. If I was going to move forward, I needed to be all in. I checked my phone and saw the text from my mom.
“Second, we have a competition in two days. I think w
e need some team bonding,” I said to everyone. “So I want to invite everyone over to my house after practice. Everyone’s parents said yes. Well, Trina, I don’t know about yours yet.”
“I’ll text my sister!” Trina said cheerfully.
I looked at the other Bunheads.
“Okay,” Megan said.
“Okay,” Riley repeated.
“Okay, then!” I said, trying not to show my relief. Next, there was one other thing I wanted to do.
“Don’t you guys think we should come up with a new team ritual?” I said. “Then we can do it before our first competition dance.”
Like one without ringing bells, ahem . . .
“But we’ve always—” Megan started, but to my surprise it was Riley who interrupted her.
“She’s right,” Riley agreed. “We can set a whole new tradition for DanceStarz Squad by ourselves. Then the Bells won’t make fun of us for using their ideas.”
“Truuue,” Megan said thoughtfully. “Okay, let’s do it. I actually already have some ideas—”
“Like these?” Trina jumped in. She did jazz hands, then shimmied. Then she patted her head and stomach simultaneously, twirled around, and finished by plugging her nose and doing the swim.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“No,” Megan said. “Not exactly like those.”
“Are you sure? Look how fun it is!” Trina started doing the same routine again, as the door opened and Vanessa came into the studio. She watched Trina shimmy, then pat her head and her stomach.
“Do I even want to know what is going on?” Vanessa asked us, continuing to watch Trina do the swim.
“We’re not happy with our competition routine,” I said. “So Megan choreographed a new one for us. Do you like it?”
“Wait, WHAT?” Megan burst out. “No! Vanessa, that’s not true!”
“Megan, I know it’s not true.” Vanessa smiled. “I do have a sense of humor.”
“Well.” Megan stumbled over her words. “Oh. Okay, then.”
“They’re my ideas for the ritual!” Trina explained to her.
“Vanessa, is it all right if we make up a new ritual?” I asked her.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Vanessa said. “Let’s run through the dance a few times and then we’ll save some time so you can create one. And, in other announcements . . .” Vanessa paused dramatically. “Your costumes have arrived.”
“OUR COSTUMES!” Riley shrieked. Then she looked around, embarrassed. “Sorry, it’s my favorite thing.”
She didn’t have to apologize! We were all excited to see our first costumes.
Vanessa opened the box and pulled out one to show to us. We would all wear matching costumes, for unity, she told us.
It was gorgeous. A sparkly top with a dramatic skirt, which would all look amazing on stage.
“I’m so excited for our first competition!” Trina said.
“Then let’s dance so we can bring home our first trophy,” Vanessa said. “Let’s get to work.”
One of Vanessa’s assistants came in carrying a huge box and put it down in front of us. Vanessa reached into the box and pulled out—
“OUR JACKETS!” we all screamed.
Our team jackets were here! They were athletic material with an ombré starting at the top going from white to pink to a darker pink. And on the back:
DANCESTARZ SQUAD!
Our logo was in shimmery gold.
We all put on our jackets and started dancing around, showing them off and checking ourselves out in the mirror.
Trina danced by me, and I waved jazz hands at her. She joined me, and we both did her next move—shimmying. Lily and Riley caught on as we patted our heads and rubbed our stomachs. Megan rolled her eyes but joined us doing the swim.
“Does this mean we’re using my new ritual?” Trina asked.
“NO!” we all blurted out.
Even Vanessa.
CHAPTER
18
So how was practice?” my mother asked us.
My mom had offered to drive us all to my house after practice. By “us,” I meant our whole team. I sat in the front passenger seat next to my mom.
“Our dance is looking really good,” Megan said. “Harper is doing great.”
I wasn’t sure if she was just saying that because she was talking to my mom, but regardless I was pretty happy with how I was doing. We had incorporated the tricky moves, but after Trina’s help and extra practice, I felt pretty comfortable. Plus, thankfully Vanessa had placed me in the back for that part of the dance. There were only five of us, so it wasn’t like I could hide.
But while the rest of us were doing those moves, Riley was going to be featured in the middle doing a big handstand.
My mom was smiling. She was so mom-pleased I’d finally invited people over and that they were saying nice things about me.
She asked me to grab her phone and to text my sister’s babysitter now that we were almost home. I added a message to pass along to my sister, too.
When we went into my house, Trina squealed. My dog rushed at them, wagging his tail so hard it almost wriggled off. The girls bent down to pet him.
“That’s Mo,” I told them.
“He’s so cute,” Riley said. “I want a dog so bad.”
Mo was so excited he was flinging himself from person to person.
“Why don’t you take them to your room and I’ll get some snacks ready down here,” my mom said.
“Can Mo come too?” Riley cooed.
“Yeah,” I said. “Come on, Mo!”
We went upstairs and I pushed open my bedroom door.
“Your room is so cute!” Lily said.
“It’s still in progress,” I said. “But thanks.”
“It’s so neat,” Trina noted.
“Yeah, I’m kind of an organization queen,” I said.
“Ooh, you like him too?” Megan pointed to the big poster of my favorite actor from his most recent movie.
Riley sat down on my lavender fluffy chair and patted it for Mo to jump onto her lap.
The other girls looked around at my pictures and my awards.
“Aw, is that your old team?” Lily looked at our team picture from last year. “Wow, that’s a huge squad.”
“I know, it’s been really different,” I said. “But I was with them since I was three, so I was used to it.”
“Don’t you miss them?” Trina asked me.
“Yeah, a lot.” I sighed. “They just did their first competition over the weekend.”
It had been so weird to see my old team on social media without me. They had placed well in groups, and my friends had placed in top five and top ten in solo and individuals. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would have done if I’d been there.
“Did they win?” Megan asked me.
“Our group came in second,” I said.
“They would have won if you were there, I bet,” Lily said.
I smiled at her.
“You had a solo at nationals? Wait, you won a technical award?” Megan pointed to one of my trophies.
“Yeah,” I said proudly.
“Harper, that’s so cool!” Lily said, going over to look at it. She held it out so the other girls could see it.
Megan and Riley admired my jewelry, Trina my stuffed animals, and Lily just bounced around on my bed with me. It felt a little awkward to have them checking everything out, but mostly it felt good to have people over in my room, finally. Plus, I was proud of my stuff!
“HARPER!”
My sister was yelling up to me from her room. I smiled. As I’d asked her, she’d put something together for me that I was hoping would be fun. We all went down the hall to Hailey’s room, and I knocked on her bedroom door.
“Welcome to ‘Does Hailey Think You Can Dance?!’ ” Hailey called out dramatically into her unplugged karaoke microphone.
“You look so glamorous,” Megan told her.
Hailey did. She was wearing o
ne of my dance costumes—with my permission. It was a dark blue spaghetti-strap dress that was knee-length on me, but almost a floor-length gown on her. She had draped multiple rhinestone necklaces around her neck and bracelets up her bare arms.
“I’m your host of today’s show, Hailey!” Hailey announced. “Zillions of dancers tried out, but only five remain. Today we find out which of the finalists will be crowned Hailey’s Best Dancer!”
“Is this like the TV show?” Lily asked me.
“Kind of.” I nodded and grinned.
I looked at the other girls, hoping they would think this was fun and not dumb. I knew Hailey being cute would help them play along, and I was right.
“This is going to be fun!” Megan said.
“Yeah!” Riley added.
“Come in, contestants!” Hailey flung open the door of her room. Hailey’s room was the same size as mine, but while I had wanted more floor space, she had wanted a big bed.
“Your bedroom is cute,” Trina said.
“Bedroom?” Hailey sniffed into the mic. “This is the Hailey TV Studios, and you’re live! Each of you will be given a dance to perform, and the top two will go into the finals and win a quarter of a billion dollars! Who will walk away with the title of Hailey’s Best Dancer?”
We all played along and yelled: “ME!” Hailey had us stand up along her wall.
Hailey explained the rules of the game, which we had played together lots of times in Connecticut. Every “contestant” would have to perform a dance chosen randomly. We would choose an “all-star dance partner”—but it would have to be an inanimate object. Her bed would be the stage.
“You’ll be judged by our three esteemed judges.” Hailey pointed to her fluffy white circle chair and we all started cracking up. Lined up were a teddy bear, a robotic dog, and a small doll modeled after a famous dancer.
Hailey had us sit, held out her cupped hands, and made us each pick a piece of paper. Mine said number two: ballet.
“Our first contestant is . . .” Hailey waited, but nobody responded. “Hello? Whose paper says number one?”
“Oh, me!” Trina waved her paper. “It says number one: lyrical.”
“Introducing Trina with a lyrical piece!” Hailey announced. “Please get your celebrity partner and go onstage. No live people.”
The Audition Page 11
